The protesters are demanding recruitment at government schools. Unemployed TGT pass candidates from Sangrur, Barnala and Mansa districts had gathered in the city to take part in the protest. They alleged that Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh government has failed to fulfil its pre-poll promise of them providing jobs.

“We demand a regular pattern of recruitment within a specific time frame. Also, teachers should teach only one subject, according to their area of expertise,” said the teachers union’s state president Sukhwinder Singh Dhilwan.

“In countries like Cuba, education is free. But our central government wants to hand over the education sector to private companies. We will oppose this privatisation of education,” said the union’s vice-president Nikka Singh.

The protesters handed over a memorandum of their demands to naib tehsildar Krishan Kumar who assured them to take up the demands with officials concerned.